English Department 2013-2014

Norms Meet from 2:00-3:00 Wait for teachers to finish before adding

comments to the conversation Maintain confidentiality Work through conflicts to form consensus Participate and “be present” in conversations

How did this work? How did this impact conversations? We were following these norms prior, but having in writing helped to reinforce them.

September:

Unpacked Reading Closely of Odell

October:

Developed CFAs tied to reading passages

Found students able to analyze details

Bright Spots:Developed CFAs togetherAnalyzed writing using same rubrics

Areas of Challenge: Extending units beyond 3 weeks. Texts didn’t connect with other literatureNot all texts age appropriate

Ideas Moving Forward:

Use Odell framework with teacher-chosen texts if possible

Texts would work better as suggestions, but not required

Late Fall:Began EBC unitMeaningful CFAs impossible Units more extensive than RC unitRequirement to teach both EBC unitsScaffolding took more timeBoth units took up all of quarter 2Second unit easier to get through than the first Feedback in department meetings

Bright Spots:

Stories for 9th and 12th grade-enjoyable

Units a healthy challenge

Teachers validated-skills teachers already addressing

Areas of Challenge:

Texts not included (teachers had to find or purchase)Delivering texts took a long timeDifferent versions of texts referenced in Odell than ordered. Pacing difficultpreparing mini-lessons or background information time consuming10th grade poetry content not age appropriate and depressing in tone

Ideas Moving Forward:

Teacher choice for content

More literature needs to be embedded

FeedbackClear understanding of how RC and EBC scaffold to researchProfessional development in February and March (Tuesdays) beneficialTime needed to sort through activities and worksheets importantUnderstanding of how research units unfoldGrade levels worked on same topicsStudents further investigate interests within topicsDirection for final assessments late in the quarterInstruction difficult without knowing final productAppreciation for backward design.

Bright Spots:Student reflections demonstrated skills they learned useful.Students gained a sense of what inquiry is and how to approach it.Process taught in a thorough way.Students forced to go beyond Google and consider credibility .Student reflections proved to be a valuable piece of the process.The challenge helped the students step up and create a valuable product.

Requiring more than the reflection encouraged students to reflect beyond process and on product-what did they learn?

Library blocking out time was helpful! Work in other areas (CIA) helped

prepare students for inquiry process/project.

Areas of Challenge:

Accessing technology that worked (laptops, printers)

Getting library time

Pre-chosen topics a challenge-”design” especially

Trying to organize students, amount of handouts, etc.

Ideas Moving Forward:

Can be done in a shorter period

Stagger teachers in library/with technology

Clearly define end products at the beginning

We are in the throes of our last Odell unit.

Again, we had very little time to digest the

information before teaching it to our

students (posted March), but we are

struggling through. In the coming weeks,

we’ll gather feedback and assess how all

four of these units fared this year.

We have struggled with using a Common Core

curriculum while still giving the traditional

Regents exam. This curriculum is meant to take

15-20 weeks, yet for most of us the entire year

was devoted to Odell. Odell left little time for

teaching novels and plays, which will create a

burden for the 11th grade teachers next year.

We would like to maintain more of a

balance between fiction and nonfiction,

and perhaps next year we can

collaborate to incorporate more

literature while still remaining faithful

to the CCSS Odell curriculum.